Media

Centenary Distinguished Lecture by Poet Laureate Professor Sir Andrew Motion

08 Mar 2011

 

On its 100^th anniversary, the University of Hong Kong proudly presents a series of Centenary Distinguished Lectures, bringing eminent scholars and their world-class scholarship to HKU. For the upcoming event, we have invited Poet Laureate Professor Sir Andrew Motion to talk about "Poetry in Life". The lecture will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Professor Leung Ping-kwan, Poet and Critic at Lingnan University, and Ms Christine Loh, CEO of Civic Exchange, and moderated by Professor Douglas Kerr from the School of English, HKU. Members of the media are cordially invited to cover the events, the details are:

Media Interview session

Date: March 10, 2011 (Thursday)
Time: 4:45pm - 5:30pm
Venue: Room 701, Knowles Building, The University of Hong Kong

Centenary Distinguished Lecture

Date: March 10, 2011 (Thursday)
Time: 6pm - 8pm
Venue: Rayson Huang Theatre, HKU
Moderator: Professor Douglas Kerr, School of English, HKU
Panelists: Professor Leung Ping-kwan, Poet and Critic at Lingnan University
                 Ms Christine Loh, CEO of Civic Exchange

Lunch with a Laureate

On March 11, a group of 20 senior secondary school students and undergraduates from HKU will meet Professor Sir Andrew Motion for "Lunch with a Laureate".

As an extension of the Centenary Distinguished Lectures, the "Lunch with a Laureate" aims to foster Knowledge Exchange between university and secondary schools, and help students broaden their horizons by meeting face-to-face with some of the most brilliant minds in the world today.

Date: March 11, 2011 (Friday)
Time: 12:30pm - 2:30pm
Venue: 1 University Drive, University Lodge, HKU

For media enquiries, please contact Miss Phyllis Mak, Programme Manager, Faculty of Arts, HKU (Tel: 2859 8048, email: kpmak@hku.hk ) or Ms Carol Ho, Assistant Manager (Event & Media), Communications and Public Affairs Office, HKU (Tel: 2219 4263 /email: carho@hku.hk)

About Professor Sir Andrew Motion:

• Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom 1999-2009 (The post of Poet Laureate is a special honour awarded to a poet whose work is of national significance.)
• Andrew Motion interpreted his role in the widest possible sense, writing poems addressing many public events as well as specifically Royal occasions, including the 100th birthday and death of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, The Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002, The Queen's 80th birthday in 2006.
• Recent holders of the post have sought to champion the reading and writing of poetry as well as addressing whichever public issues have seemed of importance to them, not simply Royal events. In October 2007, a Poetry Day was held at Buckingham Palace at which Andrew Motion held a poetry workshop with children who had been asked to write poems inspired by a choice of five artworks from the Royal Collection.
• Knighted for his services to literature in the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours List.
• Co-Founder of The Poetry Archive, a collection of contemporary and historic recordings of poets reciting their poetry with resources for teachers and students. It aims to bring poetry to a wider audience.

Recent news:

• Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, University of London
• Chair of the judges for the 2010 Man Booker Prize for Fiction
• Writing a sequel to Treasure Island
• Appearing in Jamie Oliver's latest project on Channel 4 - Jamie's Dream School - trying to get 16 to 18 year-olds (in the UK) who have failed at school engaged in learning
• Making his playwriting debut in May with Incoming, a dialogue between a dead soldier killed in Afghanistan's Helmand Province and his widow

Prizes

1975   Newdigate Prize
1976   Eric Gregory Award
1981   Arvon Foundation/Observer International Poetry Competition
1984   Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize
1987   Dylan Thomas Award
1987   Somerset Maugham Award
1993   Whitbread Biography Award
2010   Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry   (shortlist)   The Cinder Path